I hear that you'll be leaving soon. Good. I hope for the best for you. Hopefully, no more problems. Depending on how things go, I'd like very much to spend some time with you even after the debriefing before I'm frozen again. I've come to think of you as a friend, and that's a rarity for me these days.

Still... You have no idea how hard it was to give you all of that yesterday. And I agree. In certain regards, it should be declassified. It should be known to everybody just how far one man went to save humanity. How he pushed himself beyond his physical limits, even as he was dying, hallucinating, and confused. To the very end, F484 performed his duty as a soldier. I think that Victory Day would mean a lot more if people knew exactly how far one man went to earn it.

However, I wanted you to read one more thing before then. In a way, it's no worse than anything you've gone through before now, but in a way, it's infinitely more.

Given F484's status, we weren't sure what to think about it. Still, we prepared, just in case. Now, however, I'm of the belief that we prepared for good reasons, and that we followed the directions within for good cause.

Now, hopefully, you'll understand why I've been walking on eggshells this entire time. Especially since this went to every ONI computer on every planet. And every survivor that was on Halo appeared on Earth, specifically New Mombasa, with no apparent explanation as to how or why.

Sincerely,

Chair

Final Message wrote:

THIS IS F484, G1 ORION-IV, O-664-84-27

MY MISSION IS COMPLETE. BY THE CURRENT TREND, ALL COVENANT SHIPS SHOULD BE EITHER IN AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION IN THE GALACTIC CORE OR ADRIFT IN SPACE.

I WAS SUCCESSFULLY ABLE TO UPLOAD A PROGRAM THAT CAUSED ALL ENGINEERS TO DISABLE OR SABOTAGE ALL CRITICAL SYSTEMS SAVE FOR LIFE SUPPORT ON SHIPS, ALL SYSTEMS THAT ALLOW THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORE TECHNOLOGY, AND ALL NON-PERSONAL WEAPONRY. THEY WILL NOT ASSIST THE COVENANT IN THE REPAIR OR CREATION OF ANYTHING IN THE FUTURE. AS YOU READ THIS, THEY ARE MOVING TO MY LOCATION AS ONE.

I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF UPLOADING MY FINAL DATA LOG TO THE SYSTEMS YOU ARE READING THIS ON. A SLIGHT BREECH OF STANDARD PROCEDURES. I HAVE ALSO INCLUDED A LIST OF PLANETS, SYSTEMS, AND AREAS WITHIN THE GALAXY. HUMANITY IS FREE TO EXPAND ONCE AGAIN. THESE AREAS, HOWEVER, ARE OFF LIMITS. THEY ARE EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA. EUROPA.

As a child, F484 had an unhealthy obsession with ancient media. It excited him in ways that modern media simply couldn't. The first time he saw a Godzilla move, even though it was only two-dimensional, he was hooked. His parents, even with their personal assistant AI, had a hard time keeping up. A sign of the man who he would some day become, when he found something that fascinated him, he lusted after it.

This eventually turned to a love of older books, especially speculative fiction. He enjoyed how people got it all horribly wrong. The more wrong the better. By seven, his favorite book was Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot by Janet and Isaac Asimov.

It's impressive that some of this lasted into his Orion years. The personality molding program should have severed his connection to these completely. In a way, they did; he never read or watched anything produced before 2497, save for a few technical things. However, he occasionally made vague references to what he read. When asked what he was up to while 404, he would say "Tango Golf Alpha Foxtrot." When an admiral asked him what it meant, he told the man it stood for "The Girls Are Fine." In truth, it meant "The Game's A Foot."

Europa, we believe, is in reference to one of these ancient books. It stands for the ideal that humanity is free to move as it sees fit, but with limited exceptions. At least, that's our analysis of it. Still, as a precaution, we've pulled up roots from Europa itself and closely monitor it. Monitoring duty of Europa has become something of a punishment for ONI and UNSC personnel stationed within the system of Sol.

Then again, we also acknowledge it could mean nothing. F484 was certainly not in his right mind at the time. His hallucinations, his rapidly degrading physical state, everything points to the fact that everything he said was suspect. However, the fact that the locations he said were off limits have never had a ship return with more than one crew-member alive, if they've come back at all, tells us that his warning against going somewhere is something to be obeyed.

Sincerely,

Chair

Fri Apr 01, 2011 3:47 pm

PsycoJoe

Data [Authenticated]

Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:26 amPosts: 76

Re: You're almost free

Ah yes. I believe I've heard of that book.

"All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there." Or something to that effect. (With some alien gizmo to enforce it.)

This world might end up on that list, too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hive,Include a transcript of CN Peters and CN Raschad's little 'trip' to Neverland.

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